Purple Elephants
by FemaleChauvinist
Summary: They say trying not to think of something invariably makes you think of it…but what if you have a mind-reader for a father? And will Nessie's teacher believe her when she says she can actually do it?


**Disclaimer:** Recognizable characters and plotlines are the property of Stephenie Meyer; all original characters and story © 2017 FemaleChauvinist.

 _Do not post without permission. Do not copy/print without including the above disclaimer in its entirety._

 **A/N: I was homeschooled and never went to public school, so I apologize if I got anything wrong regarding school policy. As usual, the date of this story is correct for my alternate history, as described in my profile. Barbie**

 _September/October 2008_

 _Nessie three A/E ten, claiming eleven, sixth grade_

 **Nessie**

"It's practically impossible not to think of something you're trying not to think of; the very act of trying _not_ to think about it makes you think about it."

"Aw, I could do it," Billy scoffed.

Miss Phillips smiled. "All right; let's try an experiment. How many of you ever think about purple elephants?"

The class burst into laughter.

"Then this should be easy. For the next two minutes, I don't want any of you to think about purple elephants."

I didn't even try not to think about purple elephants. Propping my chin on my clasped hands, I thought as hard as I could about pink kangaroos and blue tigers. It was a trick Jake had taught me; he was the only one who had been willing to teach me to block my thoughts, no matter how hard I begged. The first thing he asked me to block was the fact that he had taught me; I hadn't succeeded, quite, and Daddy hadn't been really happy with him.

But I had had a lot of practice since then.

"Time's up," the teacher announced. "Now, how many of you made it the full two minutes?"

My hand was the only one that went up; Maddie looked at my hand, started to raise hers, then glanced around at everyone else and put her hand in her lap again.

Miss Phillips raised an eyebrow at me. "Nessie, are you _certain_ you didn't think about purple elephants?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She came toward me, stopping beside my desk. "Nessie, I can understand your not wanting to be the only one who couldn't do it, but look around; no one else did, either."

"Yeah, Ness," Billy called from across the room, "don't act so perfect. We all know you thought about purple elephants; just admit it like the rest of us."

"But I _didn't_!" I cried, jumping to my feet. Billy was my friend…most of the time.

The teacher frowned. "Sit down, Nessie," she said firmly. "Really, this is getting a bit ridiculous. I didn't expect you to succeed; there's nothing wrong with admitting you didn't."

"I _did_ ," I insisted, my lip quivering; angry, hurt tears stinging my eyes. I hated being accused of lying when I had always told the truth.

Well, not always the _truth_ ; not when I said Daddy was my brother and Momma was my adopted sister. But lying to the humans to preserve our cover didn't count; it wasn't the same thing.

"Nessie!" the teacher said sharply. "Stop with this nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," I said, burying my head in my arms on the desk.

"Very well. If you insist on making an issue of it, you can take this note to the principal." She crossed to her desk, wrote something on a slip of paper, then came back to stand by me. "Well? I'm waiting."

Slowly, I lifted my head, took the piece of paper, and got up from my seat. I could feel every eye fixed on me as I left the room. I was the good girl, the teacher's pet, the one who always behaved; I'd never been sent to the principal before in my life.

I shook my hair out to hide my face as I walked down the hall; I didn't want anyone to see me crying.

I knocked at the door to Principal Jeffries' office and pushed it open at his invitation to enter. Without a word, I walked up to his desk and handed him the note from my teacher.

He read it silently, then looked sternly at me over the top of his glasses. "Rensmee," he said, mispronouncing my name like most humans did, "I'm giving you one more chance to tell the truth."

"But I _have_ been!" I protested. "And it's Re _nes_ mée!"

Both his eyebrows shot up at my tone of voice. He half rose, pointing me toward a chair at one side of the office. "You go sit there while I call your mother, Miss Cullen!"

I sat quietly sobbing while he called, paying no attention to the conversation I could've heard both sides of if I'd wanted to. Rubbing my eyes with my fists, I wondered why they had to put the high school so far from the elementary school in this town. If Daddy could've heard my thoughts, he'd be here by now; _he'd_ tell them that I could _not_ think about purple elephants if I wanted to.

After hanging up the phone, Principal Jeffries went back to the paperwork on his desk, paying no attention at all to me.

It was half an hour before Mama Esme arrived; she wouldn't drive even as fast as Momma did unless she had to. She knocked on the door, then came in, introducing herself as "Esme Cullen, Nessie's mother." She spoke with the principal for a moment, then came over and sat beside me, pulling me into her lap.

 _I want Daddy!_ I thought, wrapping my arms around her neck.

"Shh, Nessie," she murmured softly, stroking my hair. "Stop crying, baby; it's all right. Shh." She continued her soft crooning as I buried my face in her chest.

"Do you want to go home, Nessie?" she asked quietly when I was a little calmer.

I nodded against her chest.

"All right. But first you need to apologize to your teacher for getting so upset."

 _But I_ _ **didn't**_ _think about purple elephants!_ I insisted. _Don't_ _ **you**_ _believe me, Mama Esme?_

She kissed my hair. "Of course I do, sweetheart. But you pretend to be learning to multiply decimals with everyone else, even though you can do trigonometry in your head. This is the same thing."

 _Oh._ Somehow, I hadn't been thinking of it like that, as one of the vampire abilities I had to keep hidden. _Do you think I exposed us?_ It was the one thing I was afraid of; that I would be the one to make the humans start wondering about what we were.

"Of course not, angel. Even if they did believe you, they'd only think you had really good concentration. Here, let's clean you up a little." She took a tissue from her purse and gently wiped my face before holding it for me to blow my nose. She brushed her fingers across my forehead and cheeks; her cool touch felt good on my hot, swollen eyes. "Better?"

I nodded quietly, reaching for her hand as I stood. She led me to the desk, and I leaned against her side as she exchanged a few words with Principal Jeffries before signing my early release form; _Mrs C. Cullen._

She squeezed my shoulder in silent command, and I looked up almost shyly. "Mr Jeffries, I'm sorry for how I talked to you." That was as far as I was going; I _hadn't_ lied, and I wasn't going to say I had.

He smiled politely at me. "That's all right, Nessie."

Slipping my hand into Mama Esme's, I pressed against her side as we left the office. "Can't I just apologize when I come to school tomorrow?" I ventured.

Mama Esme smiled down at me. "What would your father say about that, Nessie?"

I sighed. "He'd want me to do it today," I admitted. I half hid behind Mama Esme as she knocked on the door of the classroom.

"Yes?"

"I'm Esme Cullen; I'm taking Nessie home for the rest of the day, but she has something to say to you first." She pulled on my hand, drawing me from behind her.

"I'm sorry I got so upset earlier," I apologized, not looking up. I really _was_ sorry…but she had been the one to make such a big deal about it, not me.

"It's the lying that bothers me the most, Nessie," Miss Phillips said pleasantly.

I looked up helplessly at Mama Esme, and she slipped her arm around my shoulders. "Miss Phillips, I don't condone Nessie's behavior, but unless you can read her mind to know that she _did_ think about purple elephants, you might give her the benefit of the doubt. It hardly seems like something that would be worth lying over, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose not," Miss Phillips said slowly. "Thank you for stopping by, Mrs Cullen. I'll see you tomorrow, Nessie."

She still didn't believe me.

"Does Daddy know not to pick me up?" I asked as we left the building.

"Yes; I drove past the high school on my way over and told him I'd probably be taking you home."

It was Momma's car she led me to; Mama Esme really drove that car more than Momma did. I scrambled into the front seat and buckled my seatbelt.

I stared in silence out the window for the first few minutes of the drive. Finally I sighed, leaning my chin on my hands as I turned toward Mama Esme. "Miss Phillips still thinks I'm lying, doesn't she?"

"Probably," Mama Esme admitted. "But it doesn't matter, Nessie; _we_ all know you're not. I don't think she will, but tell one of us if she brings this up again."

"I will." I twisted a strand of hair around my finger. "I just wish she believed me."

"Well, in all fairness to her, Nessie, it _is_ very hard _not_ to think about something; I've never been able to do it."

I stared at her, my mouth open. "Then how do you keep Daddy from hearing?"

She laughed wryly. "I don't; he's known ahead of time about every Christmas present I ever got for him."

"Momma's best at it," I said thoughtfully.

"Not really, Nessie. Your mother's shield means he can only hear what she wants him to; she's never had any practice blocking him by not thinking of something, so I doubt she'd be much good at it. Edward's always said that Carlisle and Alice are the best."

"And Jacob?" I questioned.

Mama Esme smiled, glancing at me for a moment before returning her focus to the road. "Better than your father would like."

I fell silent, thinking about thoughts for the rest of the trip. What were they, really? How could Daddy hear them? Did they make some kind of radio waves or something? If that was it, maybe someday the humans would invent some kind of machine that could pick up the signal…

"Nessie, we're home." Mama Esme's gentle reminder brought me out of my musing.

I followed her up the steps, waiting beside her on the porch as she unlocked the front door.

"We have the house to ourselves for four hours!" she said brightly as she pushed it open. "What would you like to do; make cookies for Jacob?"

I shook my head. Normally I liked baking, but today I didn't feel like it. I still wanted Daddy.

"What about a board game?"

"No." Walking to the sofa, I curled into the corner of it, burying my face in my arms.

I felt Mama Esme sit beside me, and her arm gently slid around my shoulders. "I can call Edward to come home if you really want me to, Nessie."

I heard the slight hurt in her voice; she had liked the idea of spending time alone with me. "No," I said, my voice muffled by the pillows.

"Why don't you go upstairs and get your book, then? We can read together for a while."

"Okay." I went up the stairs slowly, a step at a time, and came back down with the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that we had started after finishing _The Hobbit_. Momma wouldn't let me see the movies until I was at least twelve (in human years), but she didn't mind Mama Esme reading the books to me.

I could have read them on my own, of course, but there was something special about being read to.

I curled against Mama Esme's side, her arm around my shoulders as she read. One thing about vampires, they could read aloud for hours without losing their voice. I was lost in the story, barely even hearing the front door until a voice spoke. "Renesmée?"

 _Daddy!_ Jumping up, I ran and leapt into his arms. His embrace was just what I had been longing for.

"Nessie! Don't think about purple elephants!"

I stared at him with intense concentration.

He snorted. "Pink kangaroos, Nessie?"

I grinned, pressing both hands to his face. _I didn't think about purple elephants, did I, Daddy?_

"No…you're getting altogether too good; I don't think I like not knowing what you're up to."

I giggled and Daddy sighed, shaking his head. "At least I know you're not likely to get as good as Carlisle."

 _How good is Papa, Daddy?_

Daddy gave me a crooked smile. "He's so good, he can have a conversation with your mother without giving away in his thoughts what they're talking about."

I laughed. _Daddy! That's impossible!_

Daddy tapped my nose. "Renesmée."

Oh, right; if I wanted Miss Phillips to believe me that I could _not_ think about purple elephants, then I should be willing to believe that Papa could talk about something without thinking about it — especially if Daddy was the one who said so.

I sighed, laying my head on his shoulder. _Daddy, will you walk me to class tomorrow?_ I begged.

He softly kissed my hair. "Renesmée, you know I can't tell her I can read thoughts," he said gently. "Even if I did, do you really think she'd believe that, either?"

 _N-no,_ I admitted. _But, please, Daddy, will you make sure she's not going to talk about what happened today?_

"Of course, angel," Daddy promised.

I cuddled down against him. _Thank you, Daddy._ And I let a purple elephant dance through my mind.

The End

 **A/N: I don't really expect the guest reviewer who asked about this to be looking at the story again for an answer, but in case anyone else is also confused... Yes, Bella ("Momma") is Nessie's real mother. However, their cover story is that Nessie is Esme's (and Carlisle's) adopted daughter; she calls Esme "Mama Esme," or just "Mama" in front of humans. Hope that clears everything up! Barbie**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. If you have questions regarding my Twilight alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


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